Toy.



Paiented lune 5, |900.`

E. B. WILDER.

TOY.

(Application led Mar. 15, 1899.)-

(No Model.)

MQI TEEEE- NITED STATES yPATENT Prion.

EDWARD B. VILDER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

TOY.

SPECIFICATION arming part of Letters Patent No". 651,153, dated June 5, 1900. pplication filed March 15, 1899. Serial No. 709,153. (No model.)

To 'all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD B. WILDER, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Toy, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to toys, and has for its principal object to provide for the assembling-,shifting,and maintaining of toy figures in various attitudes.

It consists in providing the toy with clamping devices.

It also consists in providing the body portion with movable limbs, pivotally fastened thereto by stiff joints.

It also consists in the parts and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and wherein like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur, Figure I is a perspective view showing one of my toys mounted on a suitable base and supporting a second toy. Figs. II, Ill, and IV are sectional views on the lines II I I, Ill III, and IV IV, respectively7 of Fig. I. Fig. V is a perspective view of a limb consisting of two pieces fastened near the-middle by a clenched staple, and Fig. VI is a similar view of a limb made of one piece.

My toy is shown in the drawings in the form of a human figure and is herein described as such; but obviously it may be made of any other desired form. The limbs l of the figure are pivotally connected to the body 2 by stiff-acting joints, and each limb is provided at its outer end with a clamping device. A most convenient contrivance for stidening the joint and constituting the clamping device at the same time consists in making the limbs of two flat pieces of wood bound tightly together near the middle and having their pivotal ends on opposite sides of the body of the gure. The resiliency of the two parts of the limb thus sprung orbent from their natural position causes pressure against the sides of the body. In order to increase the friction at the joint, itis desirable to slightly bevel the sides of the body, so that the limbs will bear liatwise against it, and thereby increase the surface of contact. The outer ends of the two pieces constituting a limb are bevstitute a close-fitting clamp capable of graspr ing thin plates, as well as things of greater thicknesses. This capacity for clamping onto varticles of different thicknesses is an important advantage of my invention. It is noted that the clamping device is self-acting,

whereby it automatically adjusts itself to the different thicknesses of articles'over which it is forced.

Anysuitable base-piece may be providedas, for instance, the device shown in Fig. l. This device consists merely of abroad base 3, having a narrow plate or plates 4, mounted edgewise thereon, and, if desired, protecting sockets or plates for preventing the limbs from slipping when mounted on the baseplate.

The operation of my invention is as follows: One of my toys is mounted on the base by Wedging the two pa-rts of one or more limbs over the edge of the thin base-plate, in which position it is maintained by the resiliency of the two pieces straddling the plate. The stiffness of the joints of the figure causes the limbs to maintain any attitude in which they may be placed, and the clamping devices enable the limbs to carry any desired device that may be wedged between the ends of the two pieces constituting a limb. For instance, a second ligure similar to the first may be supported 011 one or more of the limbs of the first, in which case the interlocking of the limbs causes their clamping devices to cooperate. In like manner other figures or devices may be added to an assembled group in any desired attitudes, and the attitudes may bel varied at pleasure without disassembling the figures.

Obviously my invention admits of considerable Variation, and I do not wish to limit myself to any special device for constituting a stiff-acting joint or any particular device for constituting a clamp, as other kinds of sti-acting joints and clamping devices may be substituted for those described without changing my invention. For instance, instead of the limb being made of two pieces ICO fastened by a staple 5 or other device, as shown in Fig. V, the limb may be made of a single piece slotted at each end, as shown in Fig. Vl, or the limb may be made of two pieces and tted with removable elastic bands 6, as shown in Fig. I, in which case it is desirable to have them loosely pivoted to the body. In all these cases the limb has the clamping device formed as an integral part of it, whereby the limb itself constitutes the clamp.

l. A toy comprising a body having limbs secured thereto by stiff -acting joints, said limbs having` at their outer ends self-acting clamping devices which are indeterminate in their range of operation, whereby they are adapted to `grasp and hold on to articles of different thicknesses, substantially as and for 4the purpose set forth.

3. A toy comprising a body and stift-joint-v ed limbs pivotally fastened thereto, the outer ends of said limbs consisting of separable resilient pieces firmly fastened together near the middle of the limbs, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4f. A toy comprising a body and limbs pivotally fastened thereto, said limbs consisting of two fiat resilient pieces fastened tightly together near the middle and straddling and binding said body at one end and constituting a clamping device at the other end, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. A set of toys, some of which comprise a body having limbs secured thereto by stiftaeting joints, said limbs having at their outer ends self-acting clamping devices which are indeterminate in their range of operation, whereby said clamping devices are adapted to grasp and hold on to the other toys of the set and other articles of various thicknesses, substantially as described.

EDWARD B. VVILDER.

In presence of- AUeUsT KRIEGER, WILLIAM P. CARR. 

